dramatic conflict

Dramatic conflict, or the mounting tension that will be resolved in the conflict, is a necessary part of the art of playwriting. The biggest story-driving portion of the play, which builds up as the play progresses, typically is between the main characters.

For example, in A Streetcar Named Desire, that feeling of tension is between Stanley and Blanche. Stanley is streetwise and raw, while Blanche is apparently sophisticated and refined. When Stanley finds out it is all a charade, he begins to chip away at her façade relentlessly. The audience wonders who will break, and when the climax is reached, the sudden release of all that tension is almost palpable. The tension can be also be applied to subplots, as in the breakup between Mitch and Blanche.

Dramatic conflict in fiction is different from that in a play or a screenplay. All of the tension and conflict has to be portrayed in a manner that the audience can understand and assemble as the play progresses. In fiction, the author can directly inform the reader as needed or bring in different techniques to develop the dramatic conflict.

A2S3 sez: It wouldn't be worth a node. Possible not even worth a mention. Just that in film and on stage, there are devices that are externally narrative, and in prose fiction there is also a favoring of showing over telling